Auzinsh M., Budker D., Rochester S.M. Optically Polarized Atoms: Understanding Light-Atom Interactions

Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 2010. – 389 p. – ISBN: 978–0–19–956512–2.Optically Polarized Atoms is addressed at upper-level undergraduate and graduate students involved in research in atomic, molecular, and optical Physics. It will also be useful to researchers practising in this field. It gives an intuitive, yet sufficiently detailed and rigorous introduction to light-atom interactions with a particular emphasis on the symmetry aspects of the interaction, especially those associated with the angular momentum of atoms and light.
The book will enable readers to carry out practical calculations on their own, and is richly illustrated with examples drawn from current research topics, such as resonant nonlinear magneto-optical effects. The book comes with a software package for a variety of atomic-physics calculations and further interactive examples that is freely downloadable from the book's web page, as well as additional materials (such as PowerPoint presentations) available to instructors who adopt the text for their courses.Introduction To Light–Atom InteractionsAtomic states
A bit of angular-momentum theory
Atoms in external electric and magnetic fields
Polarized atoms
Polarized light
Atomic transitions
Coherence in atomic systems
Optical pumping
Light–atom interaction observed in transmitted light
Advanced Topics
Nonlinear magnetooptical rotation
Perturbative and approximate methods for light–atom interactions
Polarization eÌects in transitions with partially resolved hyperfine structure
The eÌect of hyperfine splitting on nonlinear magnetooptical rotation
Coherence eÌects revisited
Collapse and revival in quantum beats
Nuclear quadrupole resonance and alignmenttoorientation conversion
Selective addressing of highrank polarization moments
Tensor structure of the DCand ACStark polarizabilities
Appendices
Constants, units, and notations
Units of energy, frequency, and wavelength
Reference data for hydrogen and the alkali atoms
Classical rotations
Nonlinear magnetooptical rotation with hyperfine structure
The Atomic Density Matrix software package